Professor Tom Kennie, Programme Director and Key Associate
Tom Kennie is a founding director of Ranmore Consulting Group (www.ranmore.co.uk). He works with a range of organisations particularly in higher education but also in the professional service sector (e.g. firms of chartered surveyors, lawyers and software companies). Tom is also a Key Associate of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
For the past nine years he has been co-director of the Leadership Foundation’s Top Management Programme (TMP). In addition he has experience of working with over fifty higher education institutions on leadership and management development activities. His work ranges from:
• the design and delivery of tailored leadership and management development programmes
• the design and facilitation of away-days for management teams
• consultancy to support the implementation of major change projects
• one-to-one coaching – for new Vice-Chancellor’s and other senior staff
Prior to moving into consultancy thirteen years ago he spent six years as Director of Human Resources for DTZ Debenham Thorpe, an international firm of property advisors and two years as Group Training and Development Manager for Balfour Beatty an international engineering company. He has also been a full-time academic spending eight years as Head of Surveying in the School of Engineering at the University of Surrey and four years at the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica. In his earlier career he worked as a chartered surveyor in the construction and offshore oil and gas sectors.
Tom’s academic background has included studying geography and topographic sciences (BSc, MAppSci, of Glasgow), remote sensing and GIS (PhD, Imperial College, London) and business management (MBA, Roffey Park Management Institute, University of Sussex). Professionally he is qualified as a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS), a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD) and a member of the Institute of Management Consulting (Certified Management Consultant (CMC)).
He is a visiting Professor at Nottingham Business School and in the School of the Built Environment at University of Salford. From 1996-2003 he was one of three Vice Presidents of the International Federation of Surveyors, a NGO which represents the surveying profession.
Professor Robin Middlehurst, Programme Director, and Director, Strategy, Research and International
Since 2004, Robin has been seconded half-time to the Leadership Foundation as Director, Strategy, Research and International. In these roles, she is responsible for contributing to and having oversight of the Leadership Foundation’s overall strategy, for commissioning research on leadership, management and governance and for developing the Leadership Foundation’s international strategy, working with colleagues and Associates in Leadership Foundation, with HEIs and with wider stakeholder groups. She also holds the position of Professor of Higher Education at Kingston University which she joined in July 2007. Prior to that Robin was at the University of Surrey.
Management:
Robin has undertaken a range of roles including head of a large continuing education centre, head of a national policy group, member of senior management teams and university committees.
Academic:
• Teaching on EdD and PhD programmes
• Research (specialist areas: quality management, assurance and enhancement; borderless higher education, trans-national, private and not-for-profit higher education; leadership and leadership development; higher education governance)
• Consultancy on national and international policy and change agendas in higher educations (including management development work for UK and international universities)
Governance:
• Chair of Governance Committee and member of Board of Governors, Southampton Solent University (2001-04)
• Independent member of Roehampton University Council (2006-present)
• Member of Governing Council, Society for Research in Higher Education
Strategic (national and international):
• Former Director of the Quality Enhancement Group, HEQC and Development Director, QAA (1993-98)
• Consultant to UUK on the establishment of the Leadership Foundation (2002-03)
• Director, Strategy, Research and International of Leadership Foundation from 2004
• Consultant to SCOP (now GuildHE) on Effective Governance (2002-03)
• External expert to ACU on Leadership Development in Commonwealth Universities (2003)
• Member of UNESCO Global Forum Task Force on International Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications (from 2003)
• Member of Advisory Board, Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (from 2006)
Leadership Development:
With Tom Kennie, Robin has co-designed and directed the Top Management Programme since its inception in 1999. She has been involved in a range of leadership development work over the past 15 years including:
• Evaluation and surveys of national and international leadership development programmes and provision
• Leadership development programmes for Heads of Department, Deans and professional service managers in a range of universities and colleges
• Facilitation of governor away-days and effectiveness reviews of governance
Tessa Brooks, Key Associate
Tessa is a Key Associate of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and has been a member of the TMP team for the past five years.
Tess has significant experience in a wide range of roles within the public sector with a track record in organisational innovation and change management. Following a management career in the NHS, she became a director of the King’s Fund, an independent development agency, before being appointed Director of Leadership and Management Development for the NHS. A keen interest in personal development and the link between personal and organisational effectiveness have informed much of her career.
For the past ten years she has worked in a freelance capacity across the public sector, most extensively in the higher education and cultural sectors. Her portfolio of interests include leadership development, organisational diagnostics and strategy. She is an experienced coach and facilitator. Tess is also an expert in the development of accreditation systems and is currently advising on the development of certification within the humanitarian sector.
Tess was a founding member of the National College for School Leadership and is a member of the Senior Appointments Panel for the Home Office. Within the Leadership Foundation, she is Programme Director for the Aspiring Registrars programme and was previously the Director of the Senior Clinical Academic Leaders programme for medical and dental school deans.
Louisa Hardman, Key Associate
Louisa brings almost three decades of organisational experience to her consultancy, including work in the fields of law and architecture before finding her professional home in psychology. Prior to moving into consultancy, Louisa worked in social housing, the NHS, local government and the BBC. Alongside directing Living Potential Consulting and working as a Key Associate with the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, she also works as a Programme Director with London Business School and as an Associate with Ashridge Consulting and the Centre for Innovation in Health Management at Leeds University. Louisa is also on the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement’s Individual and Board/Team coaching registers.
She is passionate about developing creative and engaging interventions that deliver improved individual and organisational performance. Blending commercial realism with psychological insight, her clients span a range of sectors including health, central and local government, broadcasting, publishing, professional services, transport, social housing, higher education, retail, distribution, membership organisations, trades unions and the police. Current client work includes the design and delivery of innovative leadership programmes, culture change, top team development, executive coaching and coach/consultant supervision. She has particular experience of and interest in supporting leadership confidence, credibility and creativity and in whole systems development.
Louisa is qualified to use MBTI, FIRO-B, SDI, EI and the NHSQ and brings a deep understanding of individual, group and organisational change and development cultivated through studies in Change Agent Skills and Strategies, an MSc in Coaching Psychology and current Gestalt psychotherapeutic studies and practice. Her work is also influenced by Tavistock thinking in systems psychodynamics.
Ruth Jenkinson, Associate
Ruth has over 30 years experience of working in the university sector, mainly as head of a number of large professional services departments and most recently as a Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cumbria.
Ruth has extensive experience of managing complex change through mergers, amalgamations and restructuring,, both of departments and of organisational processes and functions. She has had strategic responsibility for student satisfaction, student retention, e-learning technical development, learning resource centre development, transformational IT projects, departmental restructuring, estates and new build projects, facilities management, and community liaison activities.
Ruth has also designed, planned, managed and facilitated leadership development events for senior leaders and managers. She undertook the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education’s Top Management Programme in 2008-9.
Ruth has a B.A. Hons English from Leicester University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Librarianship from the College of Librarianship Wales, Aberystwyth, an M.Sc. in Management (Action Learning) from Manchester Metropolitan University and a PG Certificate in Business and Personal Coaching from the University of Chester. Ruth is also a fully trained and accredited workplace mediator.
Ruth set up her own business in February 2010 and has coached executives and senior managers in pre and post 92 universities, educational agencies and in the private sector, both in the UK and overseas.
Ruth is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management, and a member of the Association for Coaching and of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
David Wagstaff, Key Associate
David Wagstaff is an experienced organisational development consultant and coach with over twenty years experience in both the public and private sector. He works with organisations and individuals facing transformation and change and is particularly interested in the leadership challenges facing professional firms and public sector groups.
He has degrees from Durham and London universities and is also trained in coaching, counselling and facilitation skills. David is a visiting fellow at Sheffield Business School and is also academic director for the Academy of Executive Coaching.
His work in higher education involves facilitating strategy and other senior team workshops, leadership development and individual coaching assignments. He contributes to the Leadership Foundation’s Top Management programme and previously co-directed the Senior Clinical Academic Leaders Programme.
David lives in London but has worked throughout the UK, Australia, the Far East and the United States.
Melissa Scuteri, Programmes and Events Manager
Melissa is the Programmes and Events Manager at the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. She has been at the Leadership Foundation since 2006, following her position at QAA working within their International Team. Prior to this she spent some time working in America.
During her time at the Leadership Foundation, she has been involved in the set up and administration of a variety of the core leadership development programmes. In addition, Melissa has developed her role through the organisation and management of a number of the Leadership Foundation’s most high profile events, including the Top Management Programme, Leadership Summit and a variety of events with partnership organisations such as Hefce, Committee of University Chairs (CUC), Amosshe, SCONUL and UCISA.